Dalila Jakupovic makes two finals in Mumbai

Dalila also set herself in line for a title double after she beat Sabina Sharipova in the singles semi-final on the center court.

(Representational image)

Mumbai: Victoria Rodriguez and Bibiane Schoofs set up a doubles summit clash with Dalila Jakupovic and Irina Khromacheva in the L&T Mumbai Open WTA 125K Series at Cricket Club of India tennis courts on Saturday here.

Dalila also set herself in line for a title double after she beat Sabina Sharipova in the singles semi-final on the center court. The Slovenian rallied to beat her Uzbek rival 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a thrilling match that lasted one hour and 41 minutes.

The Mexican-Dutch combo outplayed Beatrice Gumulya and Ana Veselinovic 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the second semi-final on Saturday. It was an even tussle in the first set and it needed a tie-breaker to separate them. Rodriguez was proactive spot on with her placements as they took the tie-breaker 7-2 to seal the first set.

In the second set the Indonesian-Montenegrin pair had an early break in the second set and went 3-1 ahead but Rodriguez inspired a comeback to earn two consecutive breaks to get 5-3 lead. Gumulya and Veselinovic got a crucial break to stay alive in the match but Rodriguez and Schoof’s broke to wrap up the match after their opponent committed double which they did twice in the second set.

Second seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia and Irina Khromacheva of Russia had defeated fourth seed Julia Glushko of Israel and Priscilla Hon of Australia 6-3, 6-2 in the first semifinal played late on Friday.

Meanwhile in a late night singles quarterfinal clash on Friday, Ankita Raina went down fighting against Hesse Amandine 3-6, 6-7 (4) after one hour and 48 minutes of play.

Ankita started well in both sets by breaking Hesse early but later her serves didn’t trouble the 265 ranked French player who had knocked out fourth seed Arina Rodionova of Australia in the first round. Hesse broke the Indian player thrice to take first set 6-3. Ankita was brilliant occasionally but her shots were wayward which cost her high.

Both struggled to hold their serve in the second set as they traded breaks before Hesse finally held in ninth game to go 5-4 up. Under pressure Ankita did well to finally hold serve and keep interest alive.